Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced at a press conference in Budapest on Wednesday that the Government’s aim is to increase Hungarian added value in the export sector.
Minister Szijjártó held a press-conference at the headquarters of Hungarian Exim Bank, where he said that the 85 per cent of the Hungarian export activities are conducted by large international companies, while the share of the Hungarian companies is only 15 per cent. Therefore, the Government’s aim is to increase the number Hungarian exporting small and medium-sized enterprises from the current 3.000 to 12.000.
At the same time, he pointed out that most of the Hungarian SMEs are lacking financial resources, expertise and flexibility necessary to operate in foreign markets. For this reason, Exim Bank has opened a credit line worth EUR 20.6 million in order to help exports to 94 countries of the world, the Minister announced.
If we are able to increase Hungarian exports, the number of workplaces in Hungary can be increased as well; currently every fifth employee’s income directly or indirectly comes from export activities, he added.
Mr. Szijjártó explained that Hungary has recorded a reasonable volume of exports: it increased by 8 per cent year on year at the end of the first quarter of this year and has reached the EUR 22.3 billion. The Hungarian economy is very open, therefore the performance of the export sector strongly determines the performance of the entire Hungarian economy, the Minister noted.